Pedestrian traffic as well as automobile traffic makes use of intersections in urban and suburban streets. As pedestrians travel from one location in a city to another, they are faced with many intersections which must be crossed. In order to assist the pedestrians in crossing safely, the familiar "WALK", "DON'T WALK" or the analogous iconographic signs are linked to standard motor-traffic controls. This allows pedestrians to, ideally, cross with, rather than perpendicular to, the flow of automobile traffic. While these controls, i.e. "WALK", "DON'T WALK" and iconographic
pedestrian signs, warn pedestrian traffic of the safest opportunity to cross the intersection, they do not prevent a pedestrian from crossing against the light, i.e. entering the intersection when oncoming traffic has a "green light".
Also many urban areas and resort areas that have an especially heavy flow of pedestrian traffic have non-intersection cross-walks, i.e. cross-walks between intersections in which pedestrians always have the right of way. There are presently no warning light systems that warn oncoming traffic that a pedestrian is attempting to cross against the light or has entered a non-intersection cross-walk and is presently in the cross-walk. This need is most acute during periods of poor visibility when an alert driver would experience difficulty in spotting pedestrians.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a cross-walk warning light system that is able to detect when a pedestrian has entered the cross-walk and accordingly activate a light or light system that warns drivers of oncoming traffic of the presence of a pedestrian in the cross-walk.
It is another object of this invention to provide a cross-walk warning light system that provides warning lights that are highly visible to oncoming traffic during periods of poor visibility, such as fog or inclement weather.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a cross-walk warning light system that illuminates the cross-walk area, including the pedestrians within the cross-walk area.
Other objects and advantages over the prior art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the detailed description together with the drawings as described as follows.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the various features of this invention, a cross-walk warning light system is provided. The cross-walk warning light system detects a pedestrian entering the cross-walk and activates a light that is aimed across the street in order to project a beam of light from one end of the cross-walk to the other, thus the driver sees this beam of light and is warned of the presence of a pedestrian in the cross-walk. While any focused beam of light would suffice, a laser is the preferred light source. The light system is timed so as to deactivate the laser after a predetermined interval of time. In the preferred embodiment, two lasers, which are spaced apart a distance substantially the width of the crosswalk, provide parallel beams of light on each side of the cross-walk. Also in the preferred embodiment, a second laser, disposed at the opposite end of the crosswalk, provides a second beam of light, aimed substantially co-linearly with the first. This allows at least a partial beam of light at each end of the cross-walk in the event a pedestrian blocks the first laser beam. Also in the preferred embodiment, a pulsed yellow "caution" light beam would immediately precede a continuous red "stop" beam.
In an alternate embodiment, at least one scanner utilizing a focused beam of light, such as a laser, is disposed above the cross-walk and illuminates the cross-walk area by rapidly scanning the focused beam of light in a predetermined pattern such that light reflected from a pedestrian is seen by an approaching driver.